Google Settles WiFi Information Investigation for $7 Million With Texas, 37 Other States

Texas and 37 other states have resolved a lengthy investigation into what they say was unlawful collection of personal information by Google’s Street View.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office says that the investigation focused on their collection of personal information, which included email and search histories from unsecured wireless routers at private residences and businesses.

Google reportedly initially denied that their Street View vehicles were retrieving private information, but the Mountain View, California-based group later acknowledged that it had “mistakenly” engaged in that practice.

“For two years, Google violated Texans’ privacy rights and secretly collected personal information from their wireless routers,” said Abbott. “Today’s agreement requires Google to destroy any personal data that was improperly collected and imposes important new privacy protections that govern the Street View program going forward.”

Google, who begins their corporate code of conduct with “Don’t be evil,” had apparently outfitted their Street View vehicles with specialized data collection devices that also scanned and stored payload data from wireless networks that were not password protected.